The Obama administration announced Tuesday it supports loosening international copyright protections to enable cross-border distribution of special-format reading materials for the blind, a move that puts it at odds with nearly all of U.S. industry.

The government announced its support for the underlying principle of the WIPO Treaty for Sharing Accessible Formats of Copyrighted Works for Persons Who are Blind or Have other Reading Disabilities.

This article outlines and excerpts a series of responses to the proposed copyright treaty, including the posturing by the MPAA [Motion Picture Association of America] and RIAA [Recording Industry Association of America], as well as more sensible responses from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and other groups.

Wow. The comments for the King5 clip are particularly obnoxious. I struggle to understand how they could be against both the principle and the practice of the policy.

I’d be prepared to accept a well reasoned argument that someone would not deliberately park in a space reserved “handicapped”, but the signage was unclear and at the time of day in which the spaces are “handicapped only” and there aren’t many people about to ask for advice. “State disabled parking permit ONLY between xxpm-xxam”, with a highlighted “ONLY” and placed at a level between the eye level of a wheelchair user and a non-wheelchair user would have been a better implementation.

Sarah, I do too. Unless I’ve been warned and then I just can’t help it! (Usually it’s from a feminist site or a progressive site or this site, so I know I’m not the only one gaping at them in horror and if they attack me (or it feels that way), I know there are people who won’t back at the original site expressing the horror more eloquently than I ever could.)

im not sure what happened. i do have an active “Do Not Read Comments” rule. Maybe it wasnt posted clearly enough in my brain today.
i especially loved this gem:

“wildone_106 said on December 16, 2009 at 9:11 PM
2 blocks seems a bit EXCESSIVE if you ask me, is there really that many handicapped drivers needing parking?? Seems to me the city is counting on regular good people making a mistake like this and getting a ticket. Shame on them eh? Shame on YOU. And by the way, I cant tell you how many times I’ve seen V8 Mustangs or H2 Hummers with Handicapped signs on them I guess some of them have no trouble putting their foot down on the freeway and still enjoying other privileges.”

i mean really! How many disabled people can there be in a major metropolitan city anyways???
And even if there are, why would they drive sports cars and hummers??
This was sad and hilarious at the same time. What kind of car do disabled folks drive??